CLOSED: Past & Future

Vegan restaurant serving German as well international food. Located 10-minute walk from Cathedral of Cologne. Offers delivery service in the evenings, called Vega Taxi. Owner moved and opened new Past and Future in Fuerteventura. This location was kept open for a while but reported closed again August 2017. Please let HappyCow know should it reopen.

I had read about this place and all the amazing reviews and I was skeptical. However, in a meat loving town I needed a break! We were greeted warmly when we arrived by the owner. She reviewed all food with us and we dug in. The all you can eat buffet was reasonably priced and the food was incredible! The flavors were amazing and my huband never missed his "meat". He was finishing his plate and we were stuffed but the owner by and convinced us to try her tiramisu! DELIGHTFUL! One of my favorite desserts and i have missed it since going vegan 8 years ago. She nailed it! Great place!

We went to the Past & Future with some omnivorous friends. We all had the buffet, which had a great variety. The food was fresh and very delicious and everyone was full and happy at the end of our evening. The staff is very friendly and it has almost a living-room atmosphere.

We went in close to closing time, but the staff was super friendly and heated us up the soup they had put away already. The buffet was awesome and had a good variety of traditional German food as well as Middle Eastern dishes. Everything we had tasted amazing and we had such a good time. If you are vegan and in Koln, you must try!

No obvious vegan signage out the front, missed it because I thought it was too fancy for a buffet vegan place. Inside was a lovely intimate setting. So many choices. I chose the buffet option so I could sample everything. I chose well. All main meals are hearty and delicious. The owner says non vegans are impressed. My favourites were the lasagne, chilli con carne and the zucchini yoghurt and dill salad.

I went there for vegan "Wiener Schnitzel" a la carte, to learn they primarily run a buffet now.
And what a buffet it is! The dishes I know exceeded my expecations, 3 dishes that were new to me were even better!
Only bad thing: Rational people have to consciously ignore why they have "Future" in the name - they also offer "Future prediction" based on "reading" palm lines and the like. WTF.
Still, best vegan food I had for some time.
Buffet can be used "1 plate only" or "all you can eat" (including plate), both reasonably priced.

The buffet was amazing. Each salad had a distinctive and fresh flavor. The main meals were rich and distinctive. The owner is a genius for transforming traditional Swiss, German, French foods into vegan delights. I only wish she had a place in Palo Alto. She said she wants to open another restaurant in Barcelona. I'll be back!

Whether even earlier as a meat consumer or now as a Vegan: I have never experienced a Buffet where every single food which I have taken on my plate has tasted perfectly! And with a choice of 10 salads, 5 main dishes, Antipasti and dips! The „marzipan - mousse de chocolat“ ice cream for the end was a revelation. Wonderful atmosphere with friendly staff and relaxed background music. There must be angels working in this restaurant! I´m in Heaven.!
Absolutely recommendable!

I gave my omnivore friend who I was travelling with the Happy Cow app and asked her to pick a restaurant. I'm so glad she picked Past & Future. We both loved it. This is the best vegan buffet I have ever tasted. Almost all the food was gluten free as well. The staff are so welcoming and lovely, and really understand vegan food and dietary requirements. The restaurant is very nice to relax in, and would be perfect for a romantic meal. Although a little off the beaten path, it is well worth going to find this excellent restaurant. I will definitely be back next time I am in Cologne.

Paradise for Vegans!
Yesterday we have visited the Past & Future and had really been surprised at
the big and very tasty offer of the Buffet. Also my husband who is not vegan
was very contented. He even could not believe that everything is vegan!
Our absolute favorites were the delicious mango courgette salad, the garlic
mayonnaise, best lasagna Bolognese ever and the fresh Antipasti with
asparagus, artichokes, olives, tomatoes and mushrooms.
Really amazing.
Friendly service and beautiful ambience. Many thanks for a nice evening.
We will come back in summer!

I came here twice in the week I was in Cologne. It's a very nice restaurant with a friendly owner who also speaks excellent English and was able to explain everything on the menu. The rest of the staff were a little offhand, and I recommend being proactive with asking for a menu and drinks.
There is a buffet which costs 8.90 euro for one plate, or 14.90 unlimited, plus an a la carte menu. I had the buffet both times I was here, and it was tasty with a lot of choice.
The only reason I am not giving this 5 stars is that I was overcharged both times I visited, which made me wonder if this was something that happened often.
Otherwise, highly recommended for the quality of the food and drink.

We found this vegan restaurant through HappyCow and we were attracted by the very good reviews, which indeed reflect the great value of this place. The owner and master cook, Aida (able to speak several languages), warmly welcomed us and enthusiastically described in details all the deliciously looking food of the buffet section. The buffet is vary with warm and cold dishes offering creative combinations. Given our limited time (we were on a long road trip) we limited ourselves to one buffet dish (it is also possible to choose the "all you can eat" option), and we regretted not having more time to make a re-fill and continuing chatting with the very friendly Aida!
Totally recommended not only for vegetarians/vegans but also if you want to surprise non-vegetarian people.

Very good vegan restaurant. For starters we had deepfried yucca and plantain with a garlic sauce and some antipasti. All tasted very well, I especially liked the garlic sauce. For our main course one of us had the Wiener Schnitzel, and the other one had the sellerieschnitzel. This also tasted very good. The owner is a very nice lady who gives good advice about what dish to combine with what sauce, etc. It was all very filling so instead of eating our dessert at the restaurant we took it home with us. We choose the tiramisu and it was excellent, I never had a better one.

Located on a small, quite street, this place is a hidden gem well worth visiting. Spectacular food, very moderately priced. Every dish had a "wow" effect. The classy design and atmosphere are several levels above most vegan places.

Past and Future is a great vegan restaurant. We had the sushi and it was incredibly good and beautifully presented, as well as fairly priced. The owner is very friendly and the atmosphere is relaxed.
I haven't made it to their weekly Sunday brunch yet as I live outside the city, but it has a great reputation amongst vegans in Cologne.
Updated from previous review on Saturday August 15, 2015

My family and I stayed in Cologne for a short weekend break. We visited Past & Future twice! The food was incredible!! Very flavourful and great value. I am the only vegan in the family, but even my omnivore mother would highly recommend this restaurant! The staff were extremely accommodating and friendly.

When I first arrived in Cologne after almost a full day of traveling, this place was the first I visited. It has a cute interior with all sorts of different seating choices. There is a small patio in the back that I sat in. For the evening, there was a buffet. The food was amazing and there were so many options. The cuisine is definitely inspired from various different cultures. The lady who owns the best place is incredibly nice and very accommodating to a non-German-speaking person. She made the place feel so much more homey. All around awesome experience!

We stranded in Cologne since our train connection was cancelled and quickly wanted to get some tasty vegan dinner close to the station and our hotel. Past and Future was the first one we found so we went to try it out. The choice of dishes was almost overwhelming but I ended up ordering a big plateful of ravioli with mushroom filling and truffle sauce. It was incredibly tasty. My partner enjoyed his lasagna. The children had potato chips and a smoothie.
The service was also very fast and friendly.
My only critique would be that the place is not very child-friendly and this made it a little stressful to eat because the children were constantly trying to pull down tablecloths, take candles away etc. The owner, noticing our struggle, came over once to entertain our daughter by taking one of her chips and trying to feed her with it (!) and when she didn't want it, just put the chip back onto the plate. We found this somewhat strange. As a restaurant owner, you can't just go over to a customer's table and take some of their food and put it back on the plate.
Anyway, it was an overall positive experience and I recommend the absolutely delicious food! Thank you.

This must be one of my favourite vegan restaurants in Europe. The food is a couple of notch above your average vegan joint but the price isn't. The interior deco makes the place look like you are having dinner in someone's dining room, and the lady owner certainly add to this impression thanks to her friendliness and attentiveness to her guests. I turned up alone and famished a Wednesday night as she was about to close and she regaled me of a freshly made lasagne, a nicely seasoned salad and an absolutely delicious tiramisu.

This restaurant is one of the best vegan place I’ve ever been : The lady is very nice and so friendly !She welcomed us as if we were family and I felt at home there ☺ and the food is so good !!! Tasty and original, well, you definitely have to go there !